3 Reasons Why North Korea and America Can’t Be Frenemies

It is no secret that North Korean and American communication has been complicated from the start. However, many millennials have begun to question why such tension continues to exist.

In what seems to be an endless stalemate between two stubborn countries, millennials ask the question, “Why can’t North Korea and America at least move to a point of being frenemies?”

For those who need some millennial language refreshing, a ‘frenemy’ is someone who is friendly at face value while still holding negative feelings when apart.

Recent developments with “The Interview” scandal and questions of possible nuclear testing plants being revived have not made positive progress in these two countries’ relationship. With negative propaganda spread throughout both North Korea and America about the opposing country, it is safe to say that these two countries have become arch enemies.

With this deteriorating relationship so prevalent in the news, it is important to understand critical points of why this relationship has developed as it has in order to begin efforts towards reconciliation. Just as in a relationship between two individuals, these countries has recently encouraged more tension by succumbing to three detrimental acts for any relationship.

1) Promises were broken.

This is particularly seen in communication about nuclear weapons. In the past few months, satellite images indicate that North Korea could have possibly rebooted one of its nuclear reaction plants that contains plutonium. The “38 North Web” site is said to be used for nuclear testing. If what the images indicate is true, then North Korea is violating an agreement made with the US and five other countries in 2012 called the “Leap Day Deal”. It stated that the American government would provide food aid if the North Korean government suspended its work of enriching uranium and allowed international inspectors to check their nuclear plants. North Korea breached this agreement six weeks after its creation in when its military test launched a nuclear rocket.

These breaches in agreement make any continuing relationship extremely difficult. With broken promises comes broken trust, which is one of the fundamental aspects of any type of relationship, including a frenemy.

2) They did not tell the truth.

As seen in many journalistic stories from North Korea, it is a requirement for foreign journalists in North Korea to be accompanied by a North Korean guide at all times while on their visit.

Anna Fifield from the Washington Post has taken six trips to North Korea as a journalist. She reveals that on her trips to the country, the guides display a fabricated city and rehearsed speeches. She notices, “Take our visit to the East Pyongyang Grand Theater[…] On the stage, men in sharp tuxedos and women in sparkly dresses sang away, while the huge screen behind them beamed pictures of missiles launching and a smiling Kim Jong Un. Yet the restrooms smelled like an outhouse and had no running water.”

It is this carefully crafted façade that brings foreigners to doubt most things the North Korean government presents to them. When a government goes to such lengths to control an environment, foreign journalists cannot help but wonder what they are hiding.

Relationships cannot form when truth is hidden, even when they are frenemies.

3) They built up walls.

North Korea is not the only government at fault in this rocky relationship. The US’s insensitivity towards the people of North Korea in the movie “The Interview” does not help in closing the gap between these two countries. As seen by North Korea’s response to the movie, the option of moving towards becoming frenemies is far from a possibility in the near future.

In an article from London in Dazed, a journalist watched “The Interview” with two North Korean escapees. Their opinions of the movie were surprising.

One watcher stated, “I am a defector. But when I watched this film I felt insulted. I understand it’s comedy, it’s not serious. But even though they are laughing, it demeans North Korean people.”

She continues by saying, “If they spread The Interview to North Korea, it will make people hate America much much more.”

This America movie has built up culture walls that will be very difficult to tear back down. With two cultures so completely different, creating controversial films about each other is simply insensitive and unbecoming.

Overall, these two countries have struggled to communicate on any sort of civil level in the past or present. With fault on both ends, it is easy to see how the relationship developed has stayed at the status of enemy for as along as the relationship has existed.

In order to move forward toward at least coming frenemies, North Korean and American governments must understand the relational blunders described and make efforts to reverse them.

Though progress will be slow, awareness is the first step towards change. Who knows what the future holds for these two countries.

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.